Chapter 639
Inside the Arctic Mysterious Ice Coffin, Wen Buyan's sneer froze on his face. The golden strings wrapped around his neck suddenly burst into dazzling blood light - fine dragon scale patterns appeared on each string.
"The backlash of the life contract? Impossible!" His right hand, which was trying to make a seal, suddenly exploded, and seven transparent little snakes emerged from the broken bones, forming a chain shape with their tails connected. "Is this... the Nangong family's 'Seven Aperture Soul Sealing Chain'?!"
The frequency of the strings vibrating was completely synchronized with the heartbeat of the white lotus thousands of miles away. Wen Buyan's pupils contracted violently, and he saw that his shadow on the ice coffin was split into two - one was his real body, and the other was the dissipating shadow of Nangong Wan!
"Do you think I only took away my soul?" Nangong Wan's voice came from the resonance chamber of the piano case, "The heart-eating poison you planted in my spirit platform back then was fed with dragon blood by Fu Shaoping and turned into a twin contract."
The ice coffin was suddenly covered with spider web-like cracks. Wen Buyan's left eye suddenly turned purple-black, and the scene of the explosion of the underwater ruins emerged in his vision: the dead souls of Longyuan Pavilion wrapped in purple-black flames were now connecting with the white lotus through the golden thread!
Inside the South China Sea White Lotus, the heart held by Fu Shaoping suddenly floated up. The purple-black scab peeled off the bright red surface, revealing the glass-like material underneath - this was the true appearance of the "Pure World Lotus Heart", the treasure of Longyuan Pavilion.
"Is Wan Wan's golden thread spirit the incarnation of the Pure World White Lotus?" The black energy on Fu Shaoping's dragon pattern was being purified by the lotus heart, but he suddenly felt a tingling pain in his palm. Those golden threads of memory that should have dissipated were reorganizing into some kind of ancient formation along his meridians.
The heart suddenly projected a three-dimensional array diagram: 360 golden lines intertwined into star tracks, and each node corresponded to a dead soul from Longyuan Pavilion. The last residual image of Nangong Wan's spiritual consciousness appeared at the center of the array, and her fingertips were pointing to the location of Wen Buyan's body!
"The real use of the Yin-Yang Reversal Formation," Fu Shaoping suddenly coughed up blood foam with ice crystals, "is not resurrection, but -"
"Time and space anchoring." Nangong Wan's afterimage suddenly solidified, and pressed half of the dragon scale between his eyebrows, "Go and complete the God-killing ritual that we failed to do ten years ago."
Wen Buyan's Jiaoweiqin suddenly played the "Rebirth Mantra" on its own. As the music played, his broken memories were forcibly reconstructed: on the bloody night ten years ago, before the wife of the master of Longyuan Pavilion blew herself up, she transplanted the "Time Dial Pupil" inherited by the master to Nangong Wan, who was only twelve years old at the time.
"So that's it!" Wen Buyan's right eye suddenly started bleeding. "You deliberately let me extract my soul so that Shiguitong could parasitize in the opposite direction through the strings of the zither." His body began to become transparent, and a reverse dragon pattern appeared under his skin that was completely symmetrical with Fu Shaoping's.
At the moment when the ice coffin exploded, the twelve strings suddenly pierced into the void. Wen Buyan saw that in the blood beads condensed on the strings, three hundred different time nodes of Fu Shaoping were reflected - from the bloody battle in the ruins ten years ago to the White Lotus Nirvana at this moment, all the timelines were being converged through the golden thread!
Fu Shaoping's dragon pattern was completely ablaze. He saw the gold thread embroidery pattern that Nangong Wan often used appear on his chest, and those lines were resonating with the frequency of the lotus heart beating. What was even more amazing was that each line corresponded to a wound on Wen Buyan's body.
"The ultimate form of the same fate contract." Fu Shaoping suddenly understood Nangong Wan's smile before she died. She had already transformed herself into a "living array eye". As long as Wen Buyan was still extracting the power of the dead souls, she would inevitably be locked in the opposite direction.
Twelve waterspouts suddenly rose from the seabed. In the center of each waterspout floated a blood-stained dragon scale - the fragments scattered when the Pavilion Master's wife blew herself up. These scales were now forming a three-dimensional array through the golden thread and the lotus heart in Fu Shaoping's hand.
"The secret of Longyuan Pavilion: "Three Thousand World Locks"!" Wen Buyan's roar pierced through the void, "How dare you use forbidden techniques to anchor the long river of time and space!"
When the 300th dragon scale returned to its place, the white lotus suddenly bloomed a beam of light that spanned the Yin and Yang worlds. Fu Shaoping's dragon bone knife automatically decomposed into countless golden particles, which together with the remaining golden thread of Nangong Wan weaved into a giant net that spanned the sky and the earth.
Wen Buyan found that his Jiaowei Qin was disintegrating. All the strings were rolled back and wrapped around him like a cocoon. The most terrifying thing was that each string connected to himself in a different timeline - this meant that all Wen Buyan in parallel time and space would share the same death!
"The thread is broken and the soul is tied." Fu Shaoping walked towards the space-time rift on the beam of light. The lotus heart in his hand had turned into Nangong Wan's appearance. "It turns out that you never left."
The place where Fu Shaoping and Nangong Wan finally lived in seclusion was the "City of Ashes and Sands" on the edge of the western border - an isolated city forgotten between the yellow sand and the setting sun.
There are no towering palaces like Longyuan Pavilion or the vast blue waters of the South China Sea, only endless wind and sand and stubborn oases. The city is located next to a dry ancient riverbed, and residents build walls with rammed earth and cover the roofs with dried poplar branches to prevent sandstorms.
The market in the city is open only in the early morning and evening, and vendors sell dried camel meat, coarse salt blocks, and glass beads shipped from further west. When the wind and sand are strong, the whole city seems to be wrapped in a dim yellow gauze curtain, and even the shadows of people become blurred.
Most of the residents of Jinsha City are exiles, hermits, or monks who are tired of disputes. They don't care about the fighting between the immortal sects in the East Territory, nor do they care who was the head of Longyuan Pavilion. Here, there is only one rule for living - "The wind and sand do not recognize people, life and death depend on their own ability."
When Fu Shaoping first came, someone tried to test his background. A few swordsmen deliberately knocked over his wine bowl in the tavern, wanting to see if this taciturn stranger was easy to bully. As a result, Fu Shaoping just raised his hand and flicked it, and the wine condensed into ice crystals, hanging in the air without spilling a drop. The swordsmen retreated in embarrassment, and no one dared to provoke the couple again.
Nangong Wan quickly integrated into the life of the city. She was good at weaving and embroidery. The silk woven with golden thread and spiritual roots still shone brightly in the wind and sand, and soon became a treasure that the noble ladies in the city rushed to buy. She occasionally taught the children in the city to read, draw talismans on the sand, and taught them how to use the simplest formation to resist sandstorms.
Their neighbors are an elderly couple, Mr. Tao and Mrs. Tao.
When Lao Tao was young, he was a escort and traveled all over the country. Later, he became lame in a robbery and lived in seclusion here with his wife. He always liked to come to Fu Shaoping in the evening with a pot of bad wine, and talk about old stories in the underworld, regardless of whether the other party listened or not.
"Boy Fu, your sword skills are very similar to those of 'Lone Goose on the Cold River' from 20 years ago..." Lao Tao narrowed his eyes and sipped his wine. "It's a pity that the guy died early, otherwise you might have been able to have a sword fight."
Fu Shaoping mostly just listened in silence, nodding occasionally. Nangong Wan would bring a plate of candied sand dates at the right time, smiling and changing the subject: "Uncle Tao, you haven't finished the story of 'Sand Fox Marrying' that you told me last time."
Grandma Tao was a skinny old woman with wrinkles on her face, but her eyes were still sharp. She always said that Nangong Wan was too thin, and she would stew a pot of mutton for her every few days, and she would watch her finish it.
"Girl, your body can't stand the cold night in the desert." Grandma Tao pinched Nangong Wan's wrist with her rough fingers and frowned, "You have to eat more, otherwise how can you endure it?"
Nangong Wan agreed with a smile, then turned around and gave half of the meat to Fu Shaoping.
Fu Shaoping was still silent, but the hostility between his brows had been gradually smoothed by the wind and sand. He no longer wore the dark black battle robe, but changed into coarse linen clothes. Every morning he went to the oasis outside the city to fetch water, and in the evening he sat on the rooftop to wipe his sheathed dragon bone knife.
Occasionally, Nangong Wan would see him staring at the eastern sky in a trance. She knew that he was not reminiscing about his past power, but was waiting - waiting to see if the cause and effect that they had cut off with their own hands had really been settled.
Nangong Wan was calmer than before. Her golden thread spiritual root was no longer used in battle, but turned into embroidery thread, strings, and even red ropes on children's wrists to ward off evil spirits. She liked to play "The Ballad of Ashes and Sands" at dusk. The sound of the piano was so distant that it seemed to penetrate the yellow sand and reach a distant dream.
Sometimes, Fu Shaoping would stand behind her, with his fingers gently resting on her shoulders, as if to confirm her presence. And she would always turn around and smile at him, with the golden thread on her fingertips silently wrapping around his wrist, just like when they first met in Longyuan Pavilion.
The sandstorms in the City of Ashes were still raging, but their days were peaceful.
Occasionally, monks from the East Territory would pass by and bring some scattered rumors - some said that the ruins of Longyuan Pavilion were covered with golden white lotuses, and some said that Wen Buyan's Jiaowei Qin was playing by itself in a certain ancient tomb...
After listening to this, Fu Shaoping and Nangong Wan just smiled at each other and continued to do their own things.
Here, they are no longer the Pavilion Master and the Saint, but just two ordinary people who depend on each other in the wind and sand.
Nangong Wan had a dream.
In her dream, she stood in an endless golden wheat field. When the wind blew, the wheat ears rustled, as if someone was whispering. In the distance, there was a small figure running, and the laughter was as clear as a bell, but she could not see the child's face clearly.
She reached out to grab it, but her fingertips only touched a wisp of drifting golden thread, as thin as smoke, which wrapped around her wrist and turned into a thin red rope. When she woke up, it was still dark. The night wind of the Cinders Sand City carried fine sand and gently patted the window frame. Nangong Wan stared at her wrist in a daze - there was clearly nothing there, but she seemed to still feel the warm touch in her dream.
At first, she didn't care.
Until one morning, when she was making tea as usual, the aroma of the tea suddenly made her stomach churn and she held onto the wall and began to retch.
Fu Shaoping was originally practicing sword skills in the yard. Upon hearing the sound, he immediately rushed to her side, put his palm on her back, and subconsciously probed her meridians with his spiritual power, fearing that it was a recurrence of an old injury.
But after the spiritual power circulated around, his movements suddenly froze.
Nangong Wan looked up and met his slightly widened eyes - those eyes that were always as calm as the deep ocean, were now unusually agitated, like a stone thrown into a calm lake, causing ripples to spread out.
"...Shaoping?" She called him softly.
Fu Shaoping's Adam's apple rolled, and his voice was low and hoarse: "Wanwan, you..."
Nangong Wan blinked and suddenly understood something, her fingers unconsciously touching her lower abdomen.
There is no medical practitioner in Jinsha City. There is only an elderly traveling doctor named Zhou who occasionally comes to the city to practice medicine.
After taking the patient's pulse, Doctor Zhou stroked his beard and smiled, "Madam's pulse is as smooth as a pearl, slippery and strong. It is undoubtedly a happy pulse."
Nangong Wan was stunned, his fingertips trembling slightly.
She had thought that her body, which had been drained of its soul and refined, could no longer...
Fu Shaoping stood behind her, his hands gently placed on her shoulders, his force steady and heavy, like silent support.
Doctor Zhou smiled and wrote a prescription for a healthy pregnancy. He gave some instructions and patted Fu Shaoping on the shoulder before leaving: "Young man, take good care of your wife. The first three months are the most important."
Fu Shaoping nodded seriously, and rarely took the initiative to see the doctor out, and even paid an extra bag of copper coins.
Back in the house, Nangong Wan was still sitting at the table, looking down at his belly with a dazed look on his face.
Fu Shaoping squatted down in front of her, held her hand, and whispered, "Wan Wan."
She looked up, her eyes slightly red, but she smiled: "Shao Ping, we are going to have a baby."
Fu Shaoping looked at her steadily, and suddenly hugged her into his arms, so tightly that she almost couldn't breathe. His breathing was a little heavy, his chest was heaving, and his heartbeat was deafening.
Nangong Wan leaned on his shoulder, listening to his rapid heartbeat, and suddenly smiled: "You are more nervous than me."
Fu Shaoping said nothing, but just tightened his arms.
Word spread quickly.
Old Tao and Grandma Tao were the first to come to congratulate. Grandma Tao carried a basket of dried dates and homemade honey wine. As soon as she entered the door, she took Nangong Wan's hand and nagging: "Girl, you have to take good care of yourself. It's not easy to raise a child in the desert. If you want to eat anything, just tell me!"
Lao Tao patted Fu Shaoping on the back, grinning: "Good boy, you're pretty quick! If you want to learn martial arts in the future, I can teach you a few moves!"
Fu Shaoping raised the corner of his mouth slightly, and responded in a rare voice: "Okay."
Even neighbors who didn't interact with the family much on weekdays sent gifts - a basket of fresh camel milk, some soft cotton cloth, and even a small silver lock, saying it was for the child to calm his nerves.
Nangong Wan thanked them one by one, feeling warm inside.
At night, Nangong Wan leaned in Fu Shaoping's arms and whispered, "Shaoping, who do you think the child will look like?"
Fu Shaoping thought for a moment and whispered, "It's best if it's like you."
Nangong Wan chuckled: "What if it's a boy, and he's as dull as you, what should I do?"
Fu Shaoping was silent for a moment, then suddenly said, "I will teach him to speak."
Nangong Wan chuckled and looked up at him: "Master Fu is personally teaching the child to speak? You must remember this, it is a once-in-a-century opportunity."
Fu Shaoping lowered his head and kissed the top of her head, his voice low: "Wanwan, I'm very happy."
Nangong Wan closed her eyes, listened to his strong heartbeat, and whispered, "Me too."
Outside the window, the starry sky of Jinsha City is exceptionally bright, and the Milky Way is like a silk thread, pouring down.
Nangong Wan thought, perhaps that dream was the first message the child gave her.
Fu Shaoping silently placed his hand on her lower abdomen, his palm warm, as if silently promising -
This time, he will definitely protect them until the end of time. (End of this chapter)